Giants: Sharp turnaround from disappointing 2017
Baseball has a funny way of defining its “first half.” The Giants completed theirs Sunday by playing for the 98th time in a 162-game schedule.
They spent the entire first half redefining who they were out of necessity, starting with the moment Ty Blach, and not Madison Bumgarner, took the mound on Opening Day in Los Angeles.
By the time they scattered for their break after Sunday’s 6-2 loss to the A's, who captured Part One of the Bay Bridge extravaganza by
taking two of three games at AT&T Park, the Giants had used 42 players, including 23 pitchers. Sixteen went on the disabled list a total of 19 times.
Despite that, the Giants ended the first half a winning team — barely — at 50-48. That might not be cause for a parade, or even a nice picnic in the park, but it’s a heck of an improvement over 2017.
On July 9 a year ago, the Giants went home for the break a busted and beaten team. They were 34-56, last in the West, 27 games out of first place. They returned for the final 72 games with a rallying cry of “Let’s not lose 100!”
This year, the Giants are four games out, thanks to a division without a runaway team. They will use the break to rest for a playoff race they can join in earnest if they finally discover a way to convert their ability to compensate for injuries and their much-improved pitching into winning with consistency.
“Last year, that was brutal,” Bumgarner said. “Nothing went our way. I do think we have a better team. That being said, I don’t think we’ve played to our full potential, either.”
One has to wonder where the Giants would be had they stayed relatively healthy, but they can’t use that as an excuse without the first-place Dodgers and second-place Diamondbacks raising their hands, clearing their throats and saying, “Hey, we were hurt, too.”
The Giants’ roster is much deeper this year, which has saved them. But when asked why the Giants went from 22 games under .500 at the break last year to two games over this year, manager Bruce Bochy pointed to the pitching.
“I think it’s been a lot more consistent on both the starting side and in the bullpen,” Bochy said. “The bullpen has had a great first half. Those guys are really doing a nice job.”
Indeed, the Giants lowered their first-half ERA year to year from 4.68 to 4.00.
And, though the offense has improved marginally, raising its runs per game from 3.9 to 4.1, it has not scored consistently enough to break away from the .500-ness.
The Giants have played far too many games without mustering three runs. Sunday was their 36th. If they cannot improve internally or via trade, they will not make the postseason, even in a weak division.
“We stalled again today,” Bochy said after Sean Manaea and the A’s bullpen held the Giants to a Chase d’Arnaud homer and a Gorkys Hernandez RBI single.
“We’ve got to drive the ball a little more. We’ve only had six home runs this month. Maybe we’ve got to give these guys a break more often. That’s what we’re missing more than anything: power, and not just home runs.”
The A’s homered in all three games in a series win that gives them Bay Area bragging rights, at least until the teams reassemble in Oakland on Friday for the first of the final three games.
The A’s won for the 21st time in 27 games by administering a rare beating on rookie Andrew Suarez (five innings, four runs). Suarez had not allowed more than two runs in a start since June 8, and no more than one since June 18.
The A’s singled Suarez into submission, hitting four in a row in the fourth inning and getting RBIs from Stephen Piscotty, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman. Jonathan Lucroy’s sacrifice fly made it a four-run inning, far too big for the Giants to overcome.